Armored cable connectors commonly in use are die cast assemblies which have a body that is inserted through a hole in the wall of a junction box and which is threaded so that a nut can be threaded onto the portion of the body on the inside of the junction box wall to secure the body tightly to the junction box wall. Such connectors may further include a cap which is secured to the body member with screws to clamp the armored cable conduit between the body and the cap. This type of connector has several drawbacks. Installation may take a good deal of time and manipulation of the various components of the connector may be tedious and frustrating, particularly in difficult to reach locations such as overhead junction boxes. Additionally, vibration tends to loosen the nut, which may cause the connector to pull away from the junction box, thereby giving rise to a potentially dangerous situation.
Many alternative connectors have been proposed; the most desirable to date I believe to be the single-piece armored cable connectors shown in my prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,366,344 and 4,619,332. The connectors there-described allow the conduit to be rapidly and reliably connected to the junction box without screws or nuts. For example, with the right-angle connector disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,366,344, the armored cable conduit is simply laid into the open channel of the connector and the connector urged against the junction box whereupon barbs in the connector engage the junction box wall and secure the cable longitudinally along the junction box wall. The connector disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,332, has a rearwardly tubular section comprised of resilient wings which when urged together fit threadably within the interior of a helically grooved metallic conduit and thereafter bear outwardly against the interior wall of the armored cable conduit to thereby grip the conduit. The connector then mounts to the junction box wall by a second pair of resilient wings which engage the junction box wall. While each of my foregoing connectors is believed to provide advantages over prior armored cable connectors, they are somewhat limited in that different sized connectors must be used for different sized armored cables.